Ben Uri Research Unit

for the study and digital recording of the Jewish, Refugee and wide Immigrant contribution to British visual culture since 1900.


David Breuer-Weil artist

David Breuer-Weil was born to Jewish immigrant parents in London, England in 1965 and studied Fine Art at Central Saint Martin’s School of Art, London, and English literature at Clare College, Cambridge. Awarded a bursary by Sotheby's auctioneers, he worked across various departments in London and Tel-Aviv, before consulting for de Pury and Luxembourg Art, while simultaneously returning to his own studio practice. He focuses on monumental projects on canvas, paper and in bronze and has exhibited extensively in the UK and internationally.

Born: 1965 London, England


Biography

Painter and sculptor David Breuer-Weil was born to Jewish parents in London, England in 1965. His paternal grandparents fled occupied Vienna following the Anschluss (Nazi annexation of Austria) when his father, George (b. 1938), later a sculptor, painter, and jewellery designer, was still a baby. His mother, born in Copenhagen, settled in England in the early 1960s; her father was killed by the Nazis by Holte Lake in Denmark in 1944, the location subsequently inspiring several of David Breuer-Weil's landscapes. From childhood, he has observed, 'he was privy to discussions about the traumas of the earlier generation and these were a clear influence on his artistic vision in later years' (Modestas Mankus, 2021). Breuer-Weil trained in fine art, including sculpture, under Shelley Fausset (former assistant to Henry Moore), at Central Saint Martin’s School of Art, London (1984–85), before studying English Literature at Clare College, Cambridge. After graduating, he was awarded a bursary by Sotheby’s auctioneers, London, and trained across disciplines including Old Master Paintings; Judaica (at Sotheby’s, Tel Aviv, 1991–94); then the Impressionist and Modern department, London until 1997, when he joined de Pury and Luxembourg Art, while simultaneously returning to his own artistic practice.

Since 2001 he has developed his ambitious Projects series: solo displays featuring vast painted canvases exploring aspects of the human condition, often exhibited in unusual locations, away from the conventional (and often restrictive) 'white' gallery space including: The Project (2001, shown in the Crypt (a former engine turning shed), at the Roundhouse, Camden – of which John Russell Taylor commented in The Times, ‘it is difficult to think of any series of contemporary British paintings more ambitious in form and content … a colossal talent’; Project 2 (2003, the Bargehouse, OXO Tower, Southwark and Project 3 (2007), curated by Ben Hanly in conjunction with Ben Uri, shown in a disused, Covent Garden multi-storey car park. Project 4 (2013), staged in The Vaults, Leake Street, Waterloo, juxtaposed visions of tragedy and joy highlighting the artist’s fundamental role as commentator and creator, prompting Astyaj Ghassemi Bass to observe that 'the angles of vision' were 'eccentric and disorientating, sometimes positively cinematic. Underlying the works is a profound sense of unease, but an element of hope seeps through' (Bass, artnet.com, February 12, 2013).

Similar extremes underpin The Coviad (2021), Breuer-Weil's most recent work (the title resonates with Homer's Iliad): an epic, contemporary, version of the Bayeux Tapestry for the age of pandemic – identical in size – some 350,000 square centimetres – and executed in pencil and gold leaf, it is one of the largest composite drawings ever made. Immediately prior to this, during the first lockdown, while suffering from Covid, the artist made 66 Golden Drawings (published by Gli Ori, 2020), a series of hallucinatory 'diary' images, in which he explored techniques and themes afterwards presented in The Coviad. Originally envisaged as a single installation, this frieze-like drawing of 70 sections, launched as an online exhibition at benuri.org in April 2021, preceded by a short film. A mythic retelling of a blighted year, it moves sequentially through the spread of the pandemic, the experience of lockdown and the arrival of hope in the form of vaccines, but also embraces contemporary global issues including the death of George Floyd, the toppling of statues and the evils of slavery, also referencing the ten plagues associated with Passover. Equally important, are images of human achievement, including the discovery of DNA, and hope, with the final image capturing the recent Mars landing.

Breuer-Weil has also created monumental bronzes for public spaces, working initially with clay maquettes, which preserve his thumbprints, a process he suggests is 'in some ways more like painting than painting itself [...]' (Interview with James Hyman, 2011). Large-scale sculptures have been displayed at Chatsworth House, Derbyshire (2010, 2011, 2013); National Trust, Mottisfont, Hampshire (2016); and Marble Arch, London (2016); others are permanently sited at Teddy Kollek Park, Jerusalem; the Cafesjian Museum of Art, Armenia; and the Museo Berardo Collection, Portugal. Influenced by family history, biblical and Talmudic sources, and prehistoric sites including Stonehenge and Avebury, Breuer-Weil aspired to 'make contemporary monumental pieces [...] instilled with human thoughts and expressions of human relationships such as brothers and searing images of outsiders and arrivals from different cultures’ (Modestus Mankus, 2021). Smaller works have been displayed in solo exhibitions including Vogue Landscapes, Alon Zakaim Fine Art, London (2009), and survey shows Closing the Door? – Immigrants to Britain 1905–2005 (2005) and Shaping Ceramics: From Lucie Rie to Edmund de Waal (2016–17), both at the Jewish Museum, London. The monograph David Breuer-Weil, Radical Visionary (Skira, Milan, 2011), was followed in 2015, by a film, The King of Nerac, featuring the artist and directed by Annie Sulzberger, which premiered at the ICA, London and the Lincoln Center, New York, ‘focussing on Nerac, an imaginary world Breuer-Weil established in his childhood, […] a world of bizarre prophecy and strange thought – a place that has sustained [his] wellspring of creativity to this very day’ (www.thekingofnerac.com). David Breuer-Weil lives and works in London. His work is represented in the Ben Uri Collection.

Related books

  • Golden Drawings and the Coviad (Pistoia: Gli Ori, 2020)
  • David Breuer-Weil: A Private Sales Exhibition (London: Christie's, 2017)
  • Nadine Wojakovski, 'The Golem in a London Garden', Jewish Chronicle, 30 June 2017
  • Charlotte Oliver, 'Artist's Lightbulb Moment', Jewish Chronicle, 17 March 2017
  • Jennifer Lipman, 'Sculpture inspired by Refugee Grandfather', Jewish Chronicle, 19 April 2013
  • Monica Bohm-Duchen, James Hyman, Ben Hanly, Susie Stanton Staikos, Richard Aronowitz, Simon Blomfield, David Breuer-Weil: Radical Visionary (Geneva: Skira, 2011)
  • Julia Weiner, 'Art's New Venue: A Car Park', Jewish Chronicle, 8 June 2007
  • David Breuer-Weil, David Breuer-Weil: Parallel Worlds (London: Boundary Gallery Agi Katz, 2005)
  • Ben Hanly, David Breuer-Weil: Project 2 (London: Bargehouse, 2003)
  • Julia Weiner, 'Grand Project', Jewish Chronicle, 7 February 2003
  • The Roundhouse Development Trust, David Breuer-Weil: The Project (London: The Roundhouse Development Trust, 2001)
  • Anon., 'New Award Aims to Uncover Fresh Artistic Talent', 29 June 2001
  • Julia Weiner, 'Fresh Paint', Jewish Chronicle, 9 February 2001
  • Julia Weiner, 'A Big Hand for Dawn', Jewish Chronicle, 4 August 2000
  • David Breuer-Weil, John Russell Taylor, David Breuer-Weil: Fields Of Dream (London: Agi Katz Fine Art, 1999)
  • Julia Weiner, 'Oy 2k', Jewish Chronicle, 17 September 1999
  • Julia Weiner, 'Arikha-kha-kha', Jewish Chronicle, 22 May 1998
  • Julia Weiner, 'Making their Mark', Jewish Chronicle, 6 June 1997
  • Julia Weiner, 'The Artist's Lot', Jewish Chronicle, 25 April 1997

Public collections

Related organisations

  • Central Saint Martin's School of Art, London (student)
  • Clare College, Cambridge (student)
  • Sotheby's Auction House (student)
  • de Pury and Luxembourg Art (consultant)

Related web links

Selected exhibitions

  • Golden Drawings and the Coviad, Ben Uri Gallery and Museum (benuri.org, 2021)
  • National Trust, Mottisfont, Hampshire (2016)
  • Out of Chaos, Ben Uri Gallery and Museum, Inigo Rooms, Somerset House, London (2015)
  • Project 4, The Vaults, Waterloo, London (2013)
  • Beyond the Human Clay, James Hyman Fine Art (2011)
  • The Human Figure in 20th Century British Sculpture, Boundary Gallery, London (2011)
  • Beyond Limits: Sotheby's at Chatsworth, Chatsworth House (2010, 2011)
  • Apocalypse, Osborne Samuel Gallery, London (2010)
  • Anorexic Babes, Jaffa, Israel (2009)
  • The Vogue Landscapes, Alon Zakaim Fine Art, London (2008)
  • Codex, Biblion, London (2007)
  • Project 3, Ben Uri Gallery, London (2007)
  • Recent Acquisitions 2001–2006, Ben Uri Gallery and Museum (2006)
  • Breuer-Weil: Drawings, Biblion, London (2006)
  • Closing the door? Immigrants to Britain 1905–2005', The Jewish Museum, Camden (2005)
  • Parallel Worlds, Boundary Gallery, London (2004)
  • Extremes, Boundary Gallery, London (2003)
  • Project 2, The Bargehouse, OXO Tower Wharf, London (2003)
  • Director's Choice: Highlights from the Ben Uri Permanent Collection, Ben Uri Gallery and Museum (2003)
  • Project 1, The Roundhouse, London (2001)
  • The Ben Uri Story: from Art Society to Museum, Ben Uri Gallery and Museum (2001)
  • Mary R, Bourne Fine Art, Edinburgh (2001)
  • The Land, Engel Gallery, Tel Aviv (2000)
  • Adult Toys, Soho House, London (2000)
  • Painted Reliefs, Engel Gallery, Tel Aviv (1999)
  • E1 Gallery, London (1999)
  • Fields of Dream: Drawings and Paintings, Boundary Gallery, London (1999)
  • Abstract Landscapes, Coningsby Gallery, London (1998)
  • David Breuer-Weil, Boundary Gallery, London (1997)
  • Sotheby's Artists, New York City (1996)
  • The Colour Blue, Boundary Gallery, London (1995)
  • Galerie Mantoux, Paris (1995)
  • Sotheby's Artists, London (1994)
  • Boundary Gallery, London (1994)
  • David Breuer Weil, Engel Gallery, Tel Aviv (1993)
  • Large Figurations, Sotheby's, London (1991)
  • Clare College, Cambridge (1986)
  • Central Library, Cambridge (1985)
  David Breuer-Weil
   
Ben Uri collection

David Breuer-Weil in the Ben Uri collection

Ben Uri archive

Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [David Breuer-Weil]

Ben Uri library

Publications related to [David Breuer-Weil] in the Ben Uri Library